UK National Waste Lead Researcher:
Geography:
Data date range:
Sources Covered:
Sector Users Covered:
Jimena Villegas
England and Wales
1998, 2002 and 2009
GHG
Industry, Agriculture, Energy, Commercial, Residential
Summary
Waste generation on the industrial, commercial and residential sectors was reviewed for England. The
years covered were 1998, 2002 and 2009, which were selected based on the waste surveys carried out by
the environmental authorities in England. England itself accounts for about 80% of the waste generated in
the UK. Other countries have carried out their own waste surveys however they all differ in years,
methodology and waste classification, which is why reporting totals for the UK would result in low
confidence levels due to assumptions. This report also includes waste management analysis and GHG
emissions related to this activity.
Contrary to water consumption in the UK, waste generation has had slight decreases during the last
decade. In the year 1998 the three sectors generated 95,182,000 tonnes of waste in England, while in 2009
they generated 82,341,053 tonnes, giving a total reduction of 13% over a decade. Nevertheless between
1998 and 2002 there was an increase of 2% of waste. It is not possible to attribute the reduction to a
specific sector, firstly for the reason that the residential sector has had a similar total amount of waste
generation along the years, and secondly because the nature of business in the industrial and commercial
sectors have changed in the last decades. However the analysis within the sectors gives some interesting
facts related to those reasons. One trend that can be identified shows a large waste reduction in the
industrial sector, first a decrease of 17% between 1998 and 2002, and then 45% from 2002 and 2009.
Simultaneously, the commercial sector presents an increasing waste generation trend, which can be due to
industrial companies moving their business model into services type, changing the share on waste
generation and being the commercial sector the largest waste generator today (DEFRA, 2009). The
residential sector presented an increase of 10% between the first two surveys and then a similar reduction
between the last ones. However, even when the average per household per year has the same behavior as
the residential total waste generation, the relative reduction in waste generation per household is larger
than that for the total in the last two surveys.
The data shows how recycling rates have increased in the last decade, especially between 2002 and 2009.
The residential sector recycled 40% more in 2002 than in 1998 and 60% more in 2009 than in 2002, while
the industrial and commercial sectors together had smaller increases, first of 14% and after of 2%. The
percentage of materials recycled varies between the years however the main material recycled in industry
was metallic waste and discarded equipment with an average of 7% over the total waste generation. In the
commercial sector, paper and card was the most recycled material increasing shares in 8 points from 1998
to 2002 until reaching 17%. The main material recycled in the residential sector was organic waste for
compost, reaching 13% share in 2009 which is then followed by paper and card with 6.4% and co-mingle
waste with 5.8%.
Co-mingle waste is a combination of recyclable waste separated in households to be picked up by the
recollection system. It initiated in 2002 and the data evidences a rapid augmentation if compared with the
share of the year 2009. One of the disadvantages of this recycling system is that rejection rates from
material’s buyers are higher because of the material not being in optimum state to be recycled. However
according to other waste stakeholders in England co-mingle recycling contributes to increase recycling
rates at household levels (WRAP, 2009).
The industry and commerce waste survey in 2002 gives details on the type of waste generated by both
sectors. The industrial sector mainly generates combustion residues being about 25.5%, followed by a
miscellaneous combustible waste with a percentage of 17% and after comes paper and card with 9%.
Food, green, wood and other organic waste add up 17% of the industrial waste. The commercial sector’s
main waste is paper and card being about 29%. Food, green, wood and other organic waste also shares an
important percentage in this sector being 25%, which is then followed by miscellaneous waste of about
17%. Households’ waste composition is mainly shared by green waste, paper and card, food waste and
glass being 20%, 18%, 17% and 7% respectively.
Waste management in England has had a large transformation in the three years analyzed. Waste to
landfill has been mainly replaced by recycling being today 25% and 52% respectively. The share of waste
used for energy recovery has increased by one point in the three analyzed years until getting to 6% in
2009. However one of England’s waste strategies today is to manage waste which can’t be recycled by
means of energy recovery in order to reduce even more the fraction of waste going to landfills.
Analyzing each sector some differences on waste management can be identified. First the residential
sector which represents the municipal waste and includes households and public zones, sent about 82% of
the waste to landfills in 1998, 75% in 2002 and 47% in 2009. The recycling rate in households has double
since 1998 until the point of reaching 39% in 2009, which is close to achieve the target that England has
established of 40% for 2010 (DEFRA, 2007). Second, the commercial sector has made use of landfills
more than the industrial sector, 54% in 1998 and 48% in 2002, while the industrial sector has been 43%
and 45% respectively. Similarly, the industrial sector has been stronger in recycling than the commercial
sector by presenting larger percentages of waste being managed on that way instead of being sent to
landfills. However together the industrial and commercial sector has increased the recycling rates up to
58% and reduced the landfill share to 15% in 2009.
One of the environmental impacts related with waste management is GHG emissions, which in 2009 were
responsible for 4% of the UK’s emissions. According to the department of energy and climate change
(DECC), which follows the requirements of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCC), the main management method that contributes to GHG in waste management is
landfill. It is responsible for about 90% of the emissions while the other methods reported, sewage sludge
decomposition and incineration without energy recovery, account only for 10%. Emissions related to
waste to energy recovery are not reported for being considered as a renewable energy under the UNFCC
(Browns, K. 2010, E-mail pers. comm., 23 November).
The reductions in waste going to landfills have decreased GHG emissions in 31% from 1998 to 2002, and
in 22% from 2002 to 2008 in England, this same proportion can be found for the whole UK case. It is not
possible to directly relate these reductions to the increasing diversions from landfill to other management
methods found in this analysis, as landfill emissions depend on waste decomposition over long periods of
time. However, minimizing waste going to landfill and given more priority to recycling and to waste-toenergy is part of the waste strategy of England not only for addressing this environmental impairment but
also for addressing sustainability.
Gap Analysis and Future Research:
The data showed is based on government organizations such the Environment Agency, which gives a
high confidence level to the data gathered. However, waste statistics depend on different variables such
economic sector and type of waste classifications, which have been changed in different occasions
making more difficult the comparison between waste statistics from the different environmental agencies
in the UK. However since 2002 the European Commission has required every two years reports on waste
generation from all members, which might contribute to the waste statistics in the UK. In addition, the
waste surveys for the industrial and commercial sectors in England has been carried out without an
established frequency, leaving in some cases large gaps on information such as the case of the last two
surveys that had a gap of 7 years.
Future research on recycling systems at household levels could contribute to the evaluation of the systems
that have been put into practice in England in recent years. An example of this case is co-mingling which
was first identified in the 2002 survey and has increased since then, even when there have been some
oppositions to this practice. Research on this subject would contribute to recent information on
households’ behaviors towards recycling, material quality for recovery, recycling rates, between more
benefits and possible improvements to the recycling systems applied to households.
Similarly, there is an identified need of assessing the environmental impact of GHG emitted by the wasteto-energy method in the UK, even when it is considered as a renewable source of energy for international
organizations. This is important to be able to compare it with the effect of diverting waste from landfill as
well as for having more complete information for life cycle studies of products and assessing consumer
use and post-use phases.
Data Sources:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrindustry.htm
Municipal Waste Management 2003/4
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/archive.htm
Municipal Waste Management 1998/99
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/archive.htm
DEFRA Composition of Household Waste 2002
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/kf/wrkf18.htm
Carbon Balances and Energy Impacts of the Management of UK Wastes
http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=0&P
rojectID=14644
Industrial and Commercial Waste Survey 1998/99. Provided by the Environmental Agency by email
request.
DEFRA. e-Digest Statistics about: Waste and Recycling. Special Waste
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrspecial.htm
ONS. Population Trends Archive.
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vlnk=6303
DEFRA. e-Digest Statistics about: Waste and Recycling. Total annual waste arising
http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/waste/wrtotalwaste.htm